Page 2 - Rob Edelman News Today

Credit WAMC In early January, WMHT and other PBS stations ran a feature film from 2019 starring Glenda Jackson as part of their Masterpiece series.  It’s called Elizabeth Is Missing, and its available on DVD and streaming on PBS Passport.  Looking haggard at the age of 85, Jackson proves that her acting ability is in topnotch condition, even as her wrinkled face and scrawny physique show advanced age.  She embodies the lead character of Maud Horsham, a woman who is sinking, or has sunk, in...

Credit WAMC When it comes to films about Hollywood history, the more cynical the presentation, the more audiences relish them.  That concept has influenced the creation of Mank, a recent black-and-white arty release, written and directed by David Fincher and being streamed on Netflix. Mank gives viewers a stylized pseudo-insider look at Hollywood in 1933 and 1940.  Herman Mankiewicz, played exceptionally well by Gary Oldman, is seen writing the screenplay of  Citizen Kane in 1941 for young O...

Credit WAMC Who doesn’t like a good Christmas movie?  If you look among the classics, you will find stories of romance, sprightly musicals, dramas of human error and redemption, fantastic tales of Santa and his elves, and family movies with happy resolutions. As someone who thinks in terms of vintage films, my list of favorites is rich in American and British titles from the past eighty years.  It’s a Wonderful Life, from 1946, where George Bailey, played by James Stewart, a beloved famil...

Credit WAMC Kino Classics has just released a ten- film BluRay set of Yiddish language feature films.  The titles come from the heyday of Yiddish film production, the late 1930s.  When I first heard of the release, I assumed it featured the restorations of The National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis University, but I was mistaken.  These are restorations completed by Serge Bromberg at Lobster Films, along with the Museum of Modern Art, the Deutsche Kinemathek, and the Fillmoteka Narodowa...